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Nuclear weapons have been a large fear lately, most of it focused on North Korea and Iran over the last 2 years or so, but recently, eyes are on Russia. Russia and the US have 92% of global nuclear weapons. While that's a huge number, as are the numbers shown in the image above, it's a far cry from what the global number used to be, around 60k, and that was about 40 years ago!! Why did the numbers fall so much? It has to do with the treaties that have been signed over the years between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. Through a signing in the '90s between the late George Bush and the current Russian leader which reduced the number by 80%, and then another between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, which was the Strategic Offensive Reduction treaty and finally Obama who cut the number by a third to what they hold today.

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So what is the INF Treaty and why does it matter? ArmsControl.org states this:

Signed Dec. 8, 1987, the INF Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to verifiably eliminate all ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. Distinguished by its unprecedented, intrusive inspection regime, including on-site inspections, the INF Treaty laid the groundwork for verification of the subsequent START I. The INF Treaty entered into force June 1, 1988, and the two sides completed their reductions by June 1, 1991, destroying a total of 2,692 missiles. The agreement was multilateralized after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and current active participants in the agreement include the United States, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are also parties to the agreement but do not participate in treaty meetings or on-site inspections. The ban on intermediate-range missiles is of unlimited duration.

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The New York Times also says:

The treaty resolved a crisis of the 1980s when the Soviet Union deployed a missile in Europe called the SS-20, capable of carrying three nuclear warheads. The United States responded with cruise and Pershing II missiles based in Europe.

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Now that President Trump has decided to take the US out of this treaty because he believes that Russia and China(who are not part of the INF Treaty) were not complying to this treaty, while Russia stated that it was the US who was violating the treaty, developing MK41 Launchers in Romania and Poland. Russia was given 60 days to "comply" to US demands and as Pompeo said, failed. The US pulled out on February 2nd which lead to the image at the top, Russia pulling out of the treaty.

Could this lead to the next arms race? President Trump has been making moves to make the US number 1! They want to beat China in the AI race, they want to be the dominant force in space, they want to be the number 1 in trade, and more! A lot of countries are looking to America with hate, spite, confusion, and as a possible threat that needs to be eliminated. Putin has stated that if the US deploys missiles into Europe that Russia will be forced to develop and use their own weapons/missiles should they be threatened.

Things look a bit hazy on the future as to whether Russia will strike or not, although Putin has said they will not make the first move, this image was released on Russian State TV that may be a chilling reminder that they will not be made anyone's fool.
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